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Investigators believe an arsonist set the blaze that caused more than $50,000 in damage to a Berkeley apartment at 1912 Addison St. Wednesday morning, said Deputy Fire Chief David P. Orth.

Orth said the apartment’s tenant had apparently befriended several homeless people who had moved into the apartment after he left.

“The situation had become untenable, and so he left, but the other people apparently stayed on,” said the firefighter.

The blaze, which was reported at 6:04 a.m., caused an estimated $50,000 to the apartment and $3,000 in damage to its contents. Additional damage to nearby units was caused by water and by firefighters breaching the walls to see if flames had spread.